Maqbool Fida Husain, an Indian contemporary painter, who has been called the Pablo Picasso of India, has died. He was 95. Husain, who mostly avoided wearing footwear , was born in Maharashtra and started his career painting movie posters and billboards. He had no formal training in art, according to his website. He died in London at 2:30 a.m. local time, said Sahba Husain, his daughterin-law .

The cause of death isn't known yet, she said. The painter had been living overseas, mostly in London, following a 2006 court case where Hindu fundamentalist groups alleged that Husain denigrated Hindu goddesses by painting them nude. He renounced his Indian citizenship and went for a self- imposed exile. He accepted an offer to become a citizen of Qatar in January 2010.

"He was the face of Indian art," Usha Gawde, manager at Sakshi Gallery said in a phone interview from Mumbai. "He took Indian art to the forefront. It is unfortunate that he had to force himself to exile during the last phase of his career ." The Supreme Court in 2008 threw out the petition calling for his trial on criminal charges including for what the groups called were disrespectful pictures of Bharat Mata, or mother India, and Hindu gods and goddesses .

"For the last 2,500 years, Indian art has flourished ," Husain said in an interview in 2008. "It cannot be stopped by any force. Art is the identity of a nation." During the early part of his career Husain used to design and build toys to supplement his income . He held his first exhibition in 1947. The government bestowed him with the fourthhighest civilian award, the Padma Shri in 1966, the Padma Bhushan in 1973 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.

NATIONAL LOSS

Husain's "Battle of Ganga and Jamuna" painted in 1971, fetched $1.6 million, the most for his art, at an auction by Christie's International in London. In June last year, his "8 Horses," fetched $442,750. Husain, born on Sept. 15, 1915, in Pandharpur, also produced and directed movies starring Bollywood actresses.

His movie "Through the Eyes of a Painter" won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1967. He was a special invitee along with Picasso at a 1971 art exhibition in Brazil. In 2005, UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, sponsored an exhibition of 21 Husain paintings in Singapore. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called his death a "national loss." The Forbes magazine named him the Picasso of India in 2005.